Tag: Drugs

Drug abuse is a major concern, it not only hurts an individual but on the society as a whole. Substance abuse does not necessarily mean that one is using prohibited substances but come in some forms. Drug abuse can be either due to the wrong application of a particular drug, one not following the necessary prescription and even over applying the drugs. Some of the side effects that substance abuse can bring about are:

Overdosage

Though most patients cannot increase the dosage of a given drug so that they can achieve the desired effect, some of them can intentionally do it, while others may accidentally take the drug more than the dose that they should be taking as prescribed. This can be because they do not understand what they are doing, or it may be done out of ignorance because of thinking that the higher the dose makes their condition to heal quicker. Overdosing of some drugs can lead to some mild symptoms while others can be fatal.

Under dosage

One other effect of the improper use of drugs is under dosage. A patient may want to take particular drugs to cure or treat a particular ailment, but due to not having the right prescription or due to ignorance they end up making quantities that are not enough to take care of the disease or offending the organism or eradicating it altogether. What this simply means is that the disease will progress unnoticed since the drug taken is not enough to prevent it from spreading further. This is not only a waste of resources and time but also if the spread rate of the disease is rapid, it can turn out to be fatal.

Drug resistance

One the other main effect of substance abuse in the form of under-dosage is that the organisms that the individual seeks to destroy gets exposed to the low dosages and eventually develops a resistance to the drug. When this occurs, even if the patient applies higher percentage dose of the same drug in future it may not be able to deal with the disease. This is the main reason why we have not been able to deal with malaria entirely as the organism causing it keeps on developing resistance due to exposure to low drug dosage.

Potentiating disease

From research carried out by health experts, some microorganisms that leave in the human body are harmless even if they inhabit some parts of the human body. The organisms are known as commensal organisms, and in most cases, they can turn out to the pathogenic and may even cause diseases. This happens, when one takes drugs indiscriminately and use antibiotics for a long time hence altering the organisms natural state. This is the reason why it is advisable that one uses antibiotics that have been prescribed by doctors always.

Due to the above effects, it is therefore advisable that one seeks the advice of pharmacists’ or doctors before taking any drugs no matter how intelligent they might think they are.…